CCI Blog

On June 27, the Idaho Statesman plucked an article from The Denver Post entitled “The Legalization of pot hasn’t boosted use by adolescents in Colorado so far” and reprinted it for Idaho readers apparently without giving this issue any additional thought or study. If the editorial board had done some research before simply regurgitating the opinion of the Denver Post, they would have found several troubling discrepancies in the data around marijuana use and youth. According to the National Kids Count Survey, there was an increase of 18-25 year olds reporting marijuana use of 149,000 in 2011/2012, to 180,000 in 2013/2014. This seems to me to be a fairly substantial increase. They also report that 12-17 year olds increased from 42,000 to 52,000, during that same time period. The Denver Post article cites the Centers for Disease Control's Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) to indicate that “marijuana use among teens nationwide also remained flat…” They failed to mention that Oregon and Washington, states with legalized marijuana, and Minnesota did not participate in the 2015 YRBS. There were also ten states, including Colorado, with unweighted results because their state survey participation rate did not meet the 60 percent participation standard set by YRBS.

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an annual survey by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA):

When recreational marijuana was legalized in Colorado, youth ages 12 – 17 past month marijuana use increased 20 percent comparing the two-year average just prior to legalization (2011/2012) to the two-year average when legalized (2013/2014).

The 2013/2014 survey results show Colorado youth ranked No. 1 in the nation for past month marijuana use, up from No. 4 in 2011/2012.

Colorado youth past month marijuana use for 2013/2014 was 74 percent higher than the national average (12.56 percent vs. 7.22 percent).

Additionally, according to research compiled by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area:

There was a 40 percent increase in drug-related suspensions and expulsions in Colorado from school year 2008/2009 to 2013/2014

There was a 20 percent increase in the percent of 12 to 17 year-old probationers testing positive for marijuana since marijuana was legalized for recreational purposes.

In June 2015, 95 school resource officers (SROs) completed a survey concerning marijuana at schools. The majority were assigned to high schools with an average tenure of six years as an SRO. They were asked for their professional opinion on the following question:

Since the legalization of recreational marijuana, what impact has there been on marijuana-related incidents at your school?

90 percent reported an increase in incidents

9 percent reported no change in incidents

1 percent reported a slight decrease in incidents

If this is not enough data to convince you that it has indeed affected adolescents, according to the 2015 Health Kids Colorado Survey (the survey cited in The Denver Post’s article), one out of every 3 Denver high school juniors and seniors surveyed are marijuana users (a 20 percent increase from 2013 to 2015). There has also been a significant increase in the number of children and youth that are being seen in emergency rooms because of accidental ingestion of dangerous marijuana edibles that look like safe, undrugged candies and baked goods.

As advocates for substance abuse prevention from throughout the state, it is our opinion that if the Idaho Statesman wishes to publish information that could potentially impact public health, they should diligently study the issue and present all of the relevant facts rather than reprint a slanted story with a few statistics from one limited survey. When children’s lives are affected by what is printed in the local newspaper, that paper must be responsible purveyors of the truth.

When it comes the media, let’s face it, advertisers love to market to youth. Circumstantially this is not a terrible feat, as I am sure the public is not concerned with which clothing brand markets best to our kids. However, when it comes to the exploitation of the varying tactics that are used in marketing to youth an error of caution should insist.

Social media’s current and vastly trending platform, Snapchat, uses private image messaging and public media application as its niche to the market. Trending data for Snapchat suggests it’s the leading competitor to the most popular social media next to Facebook and Instagram.

Many surveys suggest Snapchat is not only a growing contender, but is surely becoming the most popular social media platform for teens. Snapchat has about 60 million total installs, of those about 16.5 million people use the platform daily. Of that base about 72% has been found to be users between the ages of 12 and 24.

Despite the obvious moral violations associated with alcohol and other explicit drugs marketing to youth, marketers continue to try and reach them, except now instead of attention being turned toward commercials, magazines or what is referred to as traditional media, the growing popularity of social media makes it an invaluable platform.

With millions of dollars’ worth of revenue to be had by Snapchat, where does the line for advertising get drawn?

Teens being the primary Snapchat users will watch a recorded 7 billion video clips a day and Snapchat is currently looking at creating a new interface to give marketers more control and to connect more services via easier ad integration.

Snap Chat’s advertising policy states, “Advertisers must be honest about the products or services their ads promote; they must avoid content that misleads or offends,” and “Advertisers are responsible for ensuring that their ads are suitable for Snapchatters ages 13+ (or the age to which the ads are targeted).”

These excerpts outlined in their policy would suggest that Snapchat is taking the appropriate measures to ensure that its user base, primarily teens, are being protected from explicit ads and content.

Furthermore, all ads are subjected to Snapchat’s review and approval. Some of the prohibited ads include, adult products, cigarettes (including e-cigarettes), illegal or recreational drugs or drug paraphernalia and any illegal conduct, product or enterprise.

So what’s the problem?

Looking beyond the traditional ads which may periodically pop up on users Snapchat accounts, the most alarming element is with the Snapchat Discover feature. The Discover feature allows for publishing companies such as Daily Mail, BuzzFeed, Vice, People, and CNN to post Snapchat specific content for its readers.

Many of the publications are harmless in their content and maintain the same standards allocated to Snapchat traditional advertising policies. However, there are several which seem to not hold up to these standards.

Stories such as, “I Took LSD, Coke, and Edibles on the Job to see how they’d Affect my Work” and “How to tell if your Drugs Have Gone Bad,” don’t strike me as appropriate stories for youth.

Many parents may not be aware of the fact that Snapchat is allowing companies to publish content which is offensive and highly inappropriate to youth. Snapchat says it’s a matter of editorial freedoms, meaning they are not held accountable for the content published on Discover, rather the individual companies are to be held accountable.

As true as it is the responsibility of the publisher to its content, shouldn’t Snapchat be held accountable for content in which it has its hands in approving and making editorial alterations? Snapchat wouldn’t be able to accurately use the argument that they are not responsible for content and that they only provide the platform, when in fact they do alternate and modify content.

The reality is teens are on Snapchat and they use Discover and yet they have no shield of defense against stories that they may come across while using this increasingly popular social media platform.

There not only is a question of purchasing persuasion to youth by marketers, but also of social norming of youth. As youth become more and more accustom to these stories revolved around casual drug and alcohol use, science says this will have a profound effect on their individual behaviors and what they consider appropriate or necessary.